The track proved more challenging than drivers expected on Saturday. Qualifying over, it took its toll, even among the best Indy drivers.
When the green flag drops today for the 52 laps around the 1.2-mile track, 13 drivers will be on the line. If machinists and mechanics can complete their jobs during the night, more could be there come start time.Gates will open at 8 a.m. Motorcycles, vintage cars and Indy cars will warm up until 1 p.m. Races will then start with vintage cars, followed by motorcycles and then the Indy cars.
Saturday's qualifying for the IndyCar Grand Prix of Utah was tough on drivers and equipment. Two earlier races this year were on an oval track. Bonneville is a road track with a long straight and a winding backstretch.
By the end of qualifying, one car had crashed, several others broke and good drivers had met their match this day.
Top qualifier was Ken Petrie of Parker, Colo. He toured the grand prix track in 57.16 seconds, averaging 88.174 miles per hour on the 3/4-mile straight and back-stretch of "S" curves.
Second was Kevin Whitesides of Columbia, Mont. He qualified in 57.34 seconds at 87.897 mph. Third was Bill Tempero of Ft. Collins, Colo., in 58.13 seconds at 86.7 mph.
In overall standings, Whitesides is No. 1, Tempero is No. 2 and Petrie is No. 5. Third is Robby Unser and fourth is Johnny Unser.
One victim of the track was Robby Unser, the son of three-time Indy 500 winner Bobby Unser and nephew to four-time 500 winner Al Unser.
His strategy, after taking some warmup runs on the Bonneville Raceway track, "was to qualify first, then hold the lead. There are some places to pass. If the engine is right you can pass on the straights. If I could have gotten the lead, with the car running right, I think I could have held it. Coming from behind, though, is going to be tough."
Unser, who consistently had the fastest laps in warmup runs, broke a gearbox during qualifying.
His cousin, Johnny Unser, had only slightly better luck. Of the 10 cars that made it through qualifying unscratched, Johnny Unser was in 10th. He qualified in 1:11.58 seconds at 70.411 mph.
He explained that the car he drove was new, "and there are some bugs we've got to work out. We combined teams (Robby and Johnny) this year and got some new cars. It's just going to take some time."
The debate over naturally-aspirate, or engines that run with a carburetor, and torbo-charged engines surfaced Saturday. In fact, eyes were on the Unsers to help settle the matter. Robby drives a naturally-aspirated engine, Johnny drives one of only three turbos in this race.
Johnny Unser feels that if he can get the car running well by race time, "the turbo could help on the straights. It's faster on the straights. How much it will help I don't know."
Another victim was the car of John Streeter of Salt Lake City. Streeter, 62, drove midget cars in the 1950s and this year decided to get back into racing . . . "Where my heart is."
"I went to an auto auction in Colorado thinking I was going to steal one of these (Indy cars). I didn't," he said pointing to a showy black turbo-charged Lola-Cosworth. In his second race he crashed the car.
This race the car blew a gearbox and was unable to complete qualifying.
Another of the top cars in warmup was Jimmy Santos' black No. 21. If the smooth, high-pitched whine of a well-tuned engine meant anything, Santos won warmups. His runs were among the fastest and his engine the best sounding. In qualifying, however, he blew the engine.
At stake today is nearly $50,000 in prize money. Despite the lineup, consensus is that the track allows for shuffling - even for those in the back of the pack.